Do you like the special effects in this gospel story? As the two women arrive at the tomb looking for Jesus, an angel appears out nowhere. He’s like a bolt of lightning. As this messenger descends, the earth shudders beneath their feet. Single-handedly he rolls back the huge stone, then sits on it as though it were his throne. The men standing guard at the tomb take one look at him and pass out.
And then, the angel turns his gaze on the women and says "Don't be afraid".
Say what? You might call this kind of advice counterintuitive. Everything about this messenger is meant to overwhelm, and we humans are after all programmed to feel at risk from what is overwhelming.
But in this case, things are different. Because what overwhelms is grace, a love that is stronger than death. This messenger is at their service in their quest to find Jesus.
“Do not be afraid”, he says, as he sends them off in a new direction, away from the tomb, this place of death--”He is not here”--to Galilee. "There you will find him."
Galilee is the place where Jesus first called them to follow him, where he touched untouchable lepers, dined with whores and tax collectors, railed against the pharisees, shared bread with hungry crowds, and played with the kids. Galilee. Jesus knew well its dusty roads and fragrant fields.
And in this moment, after all that has just happened to him in Jerusalem--after his trial and condemnation, the abandonment by his friends, his torture and crucifixion, his death and burial--now after all of that, in this moment of resurrection, Jesus is going back. Back to Galilee.
The story begins again, but now with a new clarity about where it all leads. His mission continues, but now with a new conviction
that life is stronger than death
that loving with all your heart, with all its joy and struggles, really is worth it.
If you want to draw close to this risen Jesus, the angel tells the women, go to where his mission is and join him there--where people are fed, and violence is overcome with love, and outcasts are welcomed, and tears are wiped away. That is where you will find him.
The women move from sadness and fear to joy and a swashbuckling sense of purpose. They move
from Jerusalem where they buried him
to Galilee where they now join him in his great work.
Thais great work continues to this day right here in our own Galilee--in this little parish, in this neighborhood with all its terrible beauty, in our handing out fresh veggies and bread in our food pantry, in our nightwalks to end the violence in our neighborhood, our vigils to end the war, our working for a dignified future for our elders, and efforts to stop the unjust deportations that tear apart immigrant families…
...and in a trillion other ways great and small that we each do as individuals among our friends and acquaintances, in our homes and workplaces.
Here, in all of this, the risen Christ moves among us, inviting us to join him more and more closely in his great work.
In a moment, we will approach the font to renew our baptismal vows. Like the women in this evening’s gospel, we vow to join in the mission of Jesus right here in our own Galilee. This is how we draw close to him, living out our baptismal vows by joining him in this great work, becoming his heart and hands and feet right here.
The beat poet, James Broughton, has a wonderful way of describing this kind of adventure. He calls it "honeymooning with Big Joy," Let me close with his poem that he appropriately names “Easter Exsultet”.
Shake out your qualms.
Shake up your dreams.
Deepen your roots.
Extend your branches.
Trust deep water
and head for the open,
even if your vision
shipwrecks you.
Quit your addiction
to sneer and complain.
Open a lookout.
Dance on a brink.
Run with your wildfire.
You are closer to glory
leaping an abyss
than upholstering a rut.
Not dawdling.
Not doubting.
Intrepid all the way
Walk toward clarity.
At every crossroad
Be prepared
to bump into wonder.
Only love prevails.
En route to disaster
insist on canticles.
Lift your ineffable
out of the mundane.
Nothing perishes;
nothing survives;
everything transforms!
Honeymoon with Big Joy!
Yes! On this great day, everything transforms. From this night forward, we honeymoon with Big Joy.
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